Days Three, Four, and Five

On Sunday, January 7th we visited the Historic Center of Mexico City including a tour of National Palace and its magnificent murals of Mexico History by Diego Rivera, the Mexico City Cathedral, and Templo Mayor, an ancient Aztec temple which was built and rebuilt 7 times because of the sinking of the center of the city. For years, the Aztecs had walked around the Valley of Mexico looking for an omen: an eagle sitting on a cactus with two colored snakes in its beak (see the image in the center of the Mexican flag). In 1325, when they finally found it on an island in the middle of a lake in the valley, they built the city of Tenochtitlán. This temple was their ceremonial center. Check out the link to the right to see more pictures! After lunch, we returned to the Lutheran Center before departing for worship at San Pedro Martir Parish. The ELCA group was introduced and invited to sing a song for the congregation! Afterward, we returned and had pizza for dinner!!

On Monday, January 8th we were at the Lutheran Center all day. We played a game called “Star Power,” which is a simulation exercise on power and decision making. This was followed by an introduction to Globalization by our host, Pastor Kim Erno. We talked a lot about the IMF and World Bank and the impact that they have had on Mexico. What is referred to here as Neoliberal Economics is a politically conservative, economically liberal approach to economics. Whereas Adam Smith believed in free competition based on supply and demand, and Marx believed that capitalism exploits the workers, and FDR in the New Deal believed that the state should intervene in economy for the common good (like setting minimum wage, imposing taxes and labor laws, paying subsidies, etc.), Milton Friedman believed that the market rules and that the government should stay out of it. It’s what we might call Reaganomics. It has attracted foreign investment to Mexico as well as trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), under which goods flow free of tariffs. What this has meant for Mexico (and the US, for that matter) is that cheaper goods come in at the expense of the local producers who can’t mass-produce. So, what ends up happening is that a giant corn producer from the US comes to Mexico with cheap corn and the people who grow corn here are put out of their jobs. They often resort to 1) moving to the “informal economy” of selling things on the street, or 2) moving to the United States. (The result is the brain-drain that Dr. Gandy mentioned on Saturday night.) After lunch we heard from Ben Cokelet of the Centro Solidaridad Sindical, who talked with us about “Labor Rights and Struggles in Mexico” as well as naming for us some companies that have high verification when it comes to labor practices, including The Gap, Nike, Levis, Limited, Express, Addidas, Reebok, and Volkswagen. All of these companies can be checked out online and they often have a public relations liaison for labor information. This day was capped off by a Biblical Reflection on the “Workers in the Vineyard: A Living Wage.”

On Tuesday, January 9th we spent the day in Ajusco with the people of Amextra (The Association for Mexican Transformation) and the Community Center they have established there. This center provides microloans to families, day care and preschool for children of working moms, values counseling for young women, and Peace Education, which is a non-violence training for families. We visited with the children in the school, as you can see here: After lunch with the Amextra staff, we visited the home of Vilma Fernandez, a political refugee and former Salvadoran Lutheran church worker who told us of the assassination of her brother (Pr. David Fernandez) by his government, about her family’s flight to Mexico with young children, and about the Lutheran ministry she has established here in Mexico.